Russian Navy amasses large force in eastern Mediterranean as Syrian troops launch offensive in Idlib
The Russian Navy has been sending several warships to the eastern Mediterranean recently, as they build up their forces off the coast of Syria.
Author: M Barbu
Body Organs of Over 15,000 Syrians Sold in Six Years: Coroner’s Office
Director-General of the Syria Coroner’s Office Hossein Noufel disclosed that the body organs of thousands of Syrian civilians have been sold in the international black markets over the past six years.
Exclusive: 2,000 Syrian fighters deployed to Libya to support government
Anti-Turkish sentiment could grow after Ankara agrees to help fight against insurgency.
Turkey Muscles-In on the Israel-Greece-Cyprus EastMed Gas Pipeline Deal
The bilateral agreement between Turkey and Libya — which establishes a new Turkey-Libya economic zone that the EastMed pipeline would now have to cross — appears aimed at giving Turkey more leverage over the project.
Man ‘plotted terror attacks on London tourist hot spots’, court hears
A man who was cleared over a sword attack on police outside Buckingham Palace went on to plan a series of terror attacks, a court has heard.
UN envoy: Terrorist attacks surging in Sahel and West Africa
The U.N. envoy for West Africa and the Sahel says the region has experienced “a devastating surge in terrorist attacks against civilian and military targets” in recent months.
France terror warning: PM says country on ‘high’ alert 5 years after Charlie Hebdo attacks
FRENCH Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Tuesday that the terrorist risk remains “high” in France, as the country marked the fifth anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris.
France, The “Budding Islamic Republic”
In a country that used to stand for freedom of expression, self-censorship is soaring.
“For the past five years, I’ve been going to the police station every month or so to file a complaint about death threats, not insults, death threats”. — Marika Bret, a journalist at Charlie Hebdo today, January 8, 2020.
An International Financial Commission is Libya’s Last Hope
For the last five years, the international community has tried a range of different approaches to mediating the Libyan civil war. All have failed. Most nations and observers not actively fueling the war with weapons, money, training, and mercenaries now see that halting these destructive flows is critical to bringing the rival militia factions to the negotiating table. The Berlin conference slated for February 2020 has the creation of an effective arms embargo as its stated primary goal. However, merely meeting this challenge will not be enough to stem the violence or solve the conflict. Once militias are cut off from external sources of military support, the core economic issues that gave rise to the conflict will still remain. Only a new approach empowering Libyan economic reformers, while reworking the Libyan economic system’s role as a driver of conflict, can fix the dysfunction. To achieve this, international actors need to facilitate and support the establishment of a Libyan-requested, Libyan-led International Financial Commission vested with the requisite authorities to completely restructure the economy.
Turkey: Turning on Washington to Benefit Moscow
“Turkey and [Libya’s] Government of National Accord reached an unusual agreement to essentially carve up much of the energy-rich eastern Mediterranean between them — threatening to cut out Greece and Cyprus from the coming bonanza.” — Foreign Policy, Keith Johnson, December 23, 2019.